KWARMA Making Governor Ahmed’s ‘Operation No Potholes Agenda’ a Reality

By Oyewale Oyelola, Ilorin

Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed during the December edition of ‘Governor Explains’ reiterated commitment of his administration to attain roads without potholes across the state, noting that the bitumen company established by Kwara State has commenced full operation.

He added the company will make bitumen-which critical to road maintenance available to Kwara State Roads Maintenance Agency (KWARMA) saddled with responsibilities of fixing bad roads in the state.

Recall that the bitumen company was established few years ago with sole aim of producing bitumen which is the major material for repair of roads available, accessible and affordable for KWARMA. The Road Maintenance Agency in fulfilling their mandate mapped out strategies to repair the state roads in Ilorin and other parts of state of harmony.

To set the record straight, majority of bad roads in the state are man made: some people/organisations damaged roads to lay water pipes, fiber optics and others without getting approval from government or fix the damaged part thereafter. While others dump refuse in the drainage during raining season and this act often lead to erosion/flooding that causes road breakage.

Having said that, KWARMA in carrying their responsibilities immediately embarked on rescue mission by repairing bad roads that have been giving road users hectic time on the road and even damaging their cars. The agency so far in 2018 has fixed Offa Road, Sango-Akerebiata-Sobi road, Tanke Akata-Mark road, Adewola Estate Road and some roads within Ilorin while repair work is ongoing along Tipper Garage-Unilorin road, Tanke.

Without doubt the repair of roads show the state government is judiciously using of tax payers’ money for the benefit of people. Also, the latest repair of roads by KWARMA goes beyond patching as the agency uses granite and other quality materials to make the road solid before laying bitumen in order to make the roads to last longer.

Furthermore, ‘Operation No Potholes Agenda’ will at the long run reduce the fund government will spend on total roads rehabilitation, thereby making more resources available for construction of new roads. Its noteworthy that KWARMA is not one-off agency, so they would continue repair roads across Kwara State.

Some road users in a chat with our crew during visit to the site commended the state government for ongoing roads’ repair. They urged KWARMA to quickly fix other busy roads that are not in good condition.